Monday saw us having a massive passage of 1.7 miles across to Portoferraio.
It was founded by Cosimo de Medici, Grand duke of Tuscany in 1548 and the name of the harbour we berthed in, under colourful high sided buildings with washing hanging out as per Italia, bears his name.
The harbour side
This tower is now a museum, but was a prison in the past, annarchist Giovanni Passannante was imprisoned and tortured for attempting to kill King Umberto 1.
There are three forts and a massive line of walls all still visible today.
In the 19th century it expanded to exploit the export produce of the new iron mills in Rio Marina and hence earned the name “Iron Port “ in Italian.
Napoleon had a house here for a period but was furnished sparsely as if he had no intention of staying long.
After a walk to the local beach we booked a recommended seafood reataurant for that evening.
We had a lovely meal that night and met Liam & Mal
Dressed to kill and eat
